


The Fibonacci Series

by patsandeels



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Childhood, Erin Gilbert's Parents, F/F, Foster Care, Hurt/Comfort, Jillian Holtzmann's Parents, Loss of Parent(s), Parent Death, Parenthood, Romantic Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2016-09-09
Packaged: 2018-08-11 00:46:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7868581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/patsandeels/pseuds/patsandeels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Soulmate-AU, When you write on your skin, it appears on your soulmate's skin as well. Follows Erin and Holtz as they grow up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Aged 3

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [the horizon tries (but it's just not as kind on the eyes)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7612813) by [blxxm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blxxm/pseuds/blxxm). 



> Thank you to blxxm for letting me use the same AU, I loved their fic so much and wanted to write something with the same kind of idea, so you should definitely read that as well. I have read through it, but there may be a few mistakes I missed, please excuse them, thank you for reading!

Your first memory is the first time you see your soulmate’s drawing on your skin. Erin remembers a ticklish feeling on her right arm. She remembers pulling up the sleeve of her blouse and seeing a tiny spiral that grew bigger as it spiraled out. She traced her finger along the line, intrigued by the almost-perfect curve that had appeared on her skin. 

She toddled over to her mum, pointing to the spiral on her skin, unsure as to what it meant, and how it had formed on her skin. “Most people have soulmates,” her mum explained “and when someone draws on their skin, it appears on their soulmate’s skin as well. Your soulmate drew this spiral on their skin, so now it’s on yours as well.” Erin liked the thought of being connected to someone in a special way, but still didn’t understand why her soulmate had drawn a spiral on their arm, it seemed like a strange thing to do. She smiled at her mum and went to find her dad to show him the spiral.

She found her Dad in his office and showed him her arm. “Look Daddy! My soulmate drew on my arm!” Her Dad lifted her onto his lap and looked at her arm.

“Your soulmate must be clever like you, Erin.”

“Why?”

“Because they’ve drawn something called a Fibonacci spiral.”

“What’s a fibby-archy spiral?

“A Fibonacci spiral is a spiral drawn from the Fibonacci series, here, let me show you,” He grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil and placed them on the desk in front of them. “The Fibonacci series is the numbers you get when you add one and one, then one and two, then two and three…” He explained as he wrote out the sums, stacking them on top of each other to help explain. “You can make the spiral your soulmate drew like this” He began to draw out boxes, writing the numbers of the sequence in the center of each box. Once he’d filled the page he drew a sloping curve, following the boxes as a guide, and formed the spiral that Erin’s soulmate had drawn on her arm.

Erin grinned contently and jumped of her Dad’s desk, taking the pen he had used with her.

\--

Jillian remembers the same ticklish feeling, only for her it was on her left arm. 

She knew how soulmates worked because she’d asked her Mum the day before when she noticed how everything on her mum’s skin, appeared on her Dad’s skin as well. 

She looked at her arm to find a stack of sums that began at her elbow and ended on the back of her hand. She looked at the numbers and compared them to the large book spread out on the floor in front of her, grinning when she realised they matched. 

She dragged the book to her mum in the next room, laying her arm over the book to show how the numbers matched. “How do you say that word?” She asked, pointing to the title.

“Fib-un-ah-chi. Did you write those sums?” Her mum asked, but already suspected the answer.

“No my souuuulmate did!” Jillian answered, stringing out the middle of the word in happiness. Her mum nodded and smiled, watching as Jillian scooped up the book and skipped away, humming a little tune, delighted by her soulmate’s reply.


	2. Aged 5

Jillian was at her aunt’s house when it happened. 

Her parents were planning a day out in the city, but on the way there they had got hit by another car. 

Jillian was absent mindedly doodling constellations on her arm when her aunt came into the room and told her to sit down. She said that there had been an accident and her parents had died. Jillian nodded quietly and excused herself to go to the bathroom, her aunt nodded, understanding that her little niece wasn’t much like other children, and best dealt with things alone, but told Jillian that she was here if she wanted anything.

As she began to walk up the stairs to the bathroom Jillian could feel herself begin to cry, but she didn’t want to upset her aunt, so she kept her face hidden until she reached the bathroom. Once she closed the door she sat cross legged in the center of the floor and let herself cry. She didn’t really know what to do or how to process what she had just been told so she reached into the pocket of her dungarees and found a pen. She wrote ‘hello, my name is Jillian’ on her arm and waited for a reply.

‘Hi Jillian, my name is Erin’ 

Jillian watched as the words formed on her arm, tickling a little as they appeared. “Erin.” She spoke the name out loud, liking the way it sounded. Seeing the words she couldn’t help but smile a little, although her and Erin had drawn and scribbled sums on their arms for a long time now, they had never exchanged any words. She sucked her thumb and wiped off her first sentence and in its place wrote ‘can you help me with something’ she watched as Erin’s words were smudged and wiped off and as she wrote the new sentence.

‘Okay, what do you need help with’

‘My aunty says mummy and daddy just died and i don’t know what to do’

‘You should ask your aunty because i don’t know much about mummys and daddys dying. I'm sure she’ll know what to do’

‘That's a good idea. thank you Erin’  
‘You’re welcome Jillian. Don’t worry, adults always know what to do, you’ll be okay’ Erin didn’t rub out the last message, instead she drew a spiral, their spiral, on her leg, and began to add stars and dots and numbers around it. Jillian added some numbers and linked up the dots, happy to have something to focus on, and then went back downstairs to talk to her aunt.

\--

Jillian ended up living at her aunt and uncle’s house. She missed her parents a lot, but now she had Erin, and when she was sad she would draw on her leg and wait for Erin to join in, focusing on the dots and swirls and numbers that filled her skin and calmed her brain. 

Sometimes they would only draw a tiny little bit, other times they would cover their entire legs, top to bottom. On those days Erin would pause for a minute, and when she started drawing again she filled their legs with all different colours, surrounding Jillian’s thin black ink with pinks and yellows and blues and greens.

(Although her aunt got a bit annoyed when she did that, and Erin wrote that her mum didn’t like it either, so they only did it when Jillian was especially sad.)

Over time, Jillian grew to understand how Erin felt based on the colour of pen she had chosen on that specific day. The days when she felt happy and calm she used gentle blues and greens, swirling them together like the ocean, and on the days when she felt sad or let down she always, always, used yellow.

Whenever Jillian saw yellow she would feel a lump in her throat and her insides would feel a little empty.

\--

Erin knew they were soulmates, but they wasn’t really sure what that really meant. Erin asked Jillian one day, carefully writing the words out in yellow ink. Jillian replied with a little sad face. Erin took it upon herself to find out and went in search of the dictionary.

After a little while of searching and what felt like hours going through the words beginning with ‘s’ she finally found it. 

soul mate  
a person for whom one has deep affinity, esp a lover, wife, husband etc

 

She wasn’t completely sure what the first part meant, but the end part made a little more sense. Erin picked up her pen and delicately copied out the definition, then drew a little arrow pointing towards the definition and at the opposite end of the arrow wrote ‘this is what my dictionary said.’ 

Jillian quickly replied, ‘Does that mean we’ll get married one day?’

Erin read the reply and smiled a little. It’d be nice to marry Jillian one day, she thought.

‘I hope so.’


	3. Aged 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jillian receives some bad news. Little Erin is adorable, and just wants her best friend to be happy.

Erin and Jillian had been drawing to each other since they were three, and although they didn’t write to each other until they were 5, when Jillian’s parents had died, Erin felt like she knew Jillian as well as she knew herself. 

 

Now they were older, most people their age had some level of communication with their soulmate, but not many people were as close as them. Not only had they known each other longer than most, but they were also each other’s closest friend. Erin only really had one friend other than Jillian, and that was Abby. 

 

She had met Abby when she had moved into Erin’s neighborhood a few years ago. They had bonded over a love of science, and Abby’s confidence helped Erin, who had become increasingly shy and quiet as she got older.

 

Jillian didn’t have any other friends, but she felt content by herself, and Erin was always there for her, so she didn’t feel much of a need for any other kind of friend. Jillian had settled in well with her aunt and uncle, she missed her parents a little, but she had gotten used to the way things were and they worked out nicely for everyone.

 

That is, it was working out nicely for everyone, until her aunt and uncle died. It was the last thing anyone expected, they were both fairly young, healthy people, and always careful after what had happened to Jillian’s parents.

 

Just not quite careful enough.

 

Jillian was at school when she was called to the principal's office. When she entered a tall woman dressed in a smart suit who Jillian didn’t recognise was standing beside the desk. Jillian slowly pulled down her yellow-tinted glasses and looked over the top of them, as if to question what was going on, and why she had been called to the office.

 

“Hello Jillian, please, take a seat.” The principal sounded a little more welcoming than usual, but Jillian sat down on the chair anyway, slumping forwards onto the desk, resting her chin on her hands.

 

“I’m afraid we have some bad news,” The tall woman began to speak but the principle raised his hand to stop the woman, continuing himself.

 

“There’s no gentle way to say this,” He let out a long sigh “I’m afraid your aunt and uncle have passed away.” Jillian sat motionless, a tear fell onto her cheek, and she felt a lump in her throat. The principal continued.

 

“This is Mrs Gorin, she’s a social worker and she’s going to explain what will happen next.” Jillian was still in shock, and could only just manage a slight nod. She stared forwards, she saw Mrs Gorin switch places with the principal and begin to explain to Jillian what would happen to her. 

 

Jillian waited until Mrs Gorin finished speaking before asking if she could go to the bathroom. Mrs Gorin nodded and told her to take as long as she liked. Jillian nodded, and it took all her strength to not run at full speed out of the room, and as soon as she stepped out into the corridor she darted towards the bathroom, locking herself in a cubicle, pulling down the lid and sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest. She pulled up her sleeve and grabbed her pen from the pocket of her dungarees.

 

‘Help’

 

Jillian wrote it on the back of her right hand, and Erin saw it almost instantly.

 

‘What’s happened’

 

‘My aunt and uncle have died’ Jillian was fully sobbing now and when she lifted her hand to wipe her tears, she smudged the ink where she had just written.

 

Erin felt a lump in her throat, how was this fair. Jillian had already been through this before, she didn’t deserve to go through it once, let alone twice. She wasn’t sure what to say, but she settled on the most comforting thing she could find.

 

‘It’ll be okay.’ She wasn’t sure what else to say, so she drew a messy spiral and waited for Jillian’s reply. Jillian added a little to the spiral, but she did it slowly and her lines were jittery and smudged by her tears after a few minutes she decided she had to leave, and go back to the principal and Mrs Gorin.

 

‘Thank you. I have to go now.’ Jillian put her pen back in her pocket and left the toilets, returning to Mrs Gorin.

 

Once she had sat back down again, Mrs Gorin began to continue explaining what they were going to do. 

 

“...and after that you’ll be placed in a temporary foster home. Is there anything you want to ask me?” Jillian shook her head. “Okay, we have all your bags ready, is there anyone here you’d like to see before we leave?” Jillian shook her head again, she hadn’t really made any friends at school, Erin kept her company most of the time anyway, and she wasn’t much like the other children in her class. “Okay, well, if you’re sure there’s no one you’d like to see, we better be heading off.” Jillian nodded her head and got up from the chair, following Mrs Gorin as she left the office.

 

\--

 

After that, Jillian was constantly being moved from foster home to foster home, she had been to a good few schools, and had given up trying to remember names and make friends. The only person she ever really saw on a regular basis was Mrs Gorin. She both dreaded and hoped for the days she would see Mrs Gorin’s car park outside wherever she was staying; dreading yet another tiresome move, but enjoying the presence of a familiar face.

 

Erin and Jillian would share notes and doodles pretty much constantly, and Erin had become accustomed to comforting Jillian after each move, doodling away until one of them fell asleep. 

 

As time went on their diagrams and equations became more and more elaborate, each of them finding their own ways of discovering new ideas and complex theories. Erin often asked her dad to teach her more about what she learnt at school, and avidly worked her way through the ever growing collection of books that filled the bookshelves around the house. Jillian, on the other hand, found refuge in libraries. She loved old libraries, the ones with great stone structures and elaborate carvings, whenever she found a particularly beautiful library she would draw tiny details of it on her arm for Erin to find, taking care in drawing the perfect angles and sloping curves.

 

But most of the time had to settle with smaller, far less grand libraries, the ones found in small towns run by kind old ladies wishing to spend their time helping the small communities. It was here where Jillian was most often found, tucked away in a corner, head in a book, finding out about anything she could. Since her aunt and uncle's death her knowledge had grown by double; taking in and storing new information each day was natural to her, and she enjoyed to routine and comfort of it all.

 

It was after a particularly long journey spent travelling to another foster home when she explained in full detail her love for libraries.

 

‘But why would you go to the library when you could just read the books you have?’

 

‘I don’t have any books.’

 

‘What! You must have some at least?!’

 

‘Nope, sometimes foster parents will have some but they’re never very interesting, they’re all about fairies and princesses and boring thing, so I go to the library instead.’

 

‘That’s sad.’

 

‘I guess…’

 

\--

 

Two weeks later Jillian sat at the table eating breakfast with her current foster parents. They were nice people, and they were always kind to Jillian, too kind sometimes, but she knew they meant well. Her foster mum shuffled through the post, putting aside letters as she read them.

 

“Oh! Jillian, there’s something for you here!” Jillian looked up, startled, she had never gotten post before, she never made any friends so she didn’t have anyone to write to her. 

 

Or so she had thought. 

 

She leaned forwards, taking the parcel from her foster mum and placing it on the table in front of her. It was heavy, and large in size too. It was wrapped in wrapping paper covered in little numbers and beakers she saw scientists use in pictures. She carefully unwrapped it, noticing it had been sent to the people who moved her around to different homes, but addressed to her name. She pulled the packaging away to reveal five books, each a different size, and a note. She recognised the handwriting instantly.

 

\--

 

To Jillian,

 

I didn’t think it was right that you don’t have any books of your own, so I told my Dad and he took me to the big bookstore in the city. I picked out the most interesting books i could find and then we got some paper too so it would look nice when you got the books in the post. I didn’t want you to have to leave them behind, so I chose a bag you can put them in when you have to move. Dad said that he wrote to the foster people to get it sent to you, so I hope it arrives okay.

 

Lots of love, Erin xxxxx

 

\--

 

She turned over the note and found that on the back Erin had drawn a large spiral, and the list of numbers beside it. Jillian couldn't help but, grinning with joy, she quickly explained to her foster parents who it was from, before excusing herself to go and read them in her room.

 

As soon as she reached her room, she carefully placed her books, bag, and note on the bed. She took out the pen from her pocket and wrote Erin a scribbled note.

 

‘Thank you for my books and bag! They’re wonderful, I’m going to start reading one now!’ 

 

She paused for a second, glancing at the note Erin had sent with the books. 

  
‘Lots of love, Jillian xxxxx’

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are much appreciated xx


End file.
